Unusual Mission
by sterlingwriter
Summary: Zack is called upon to take care of an unusual situation. Will Cloud decide to help him out?


**Unusual Mission  
****by Sterlingwriter**

_For Wufei_

* * *

Zack held the phone to his ear, mouth agape, eyes disbelieving. He laughed unexpectedly, causing Cloud's head to jerk up in surprise.

Cloud managed to repress the majority of his reaction, and was relieved when he realized that Zack hadn't noticed how jumpy he was. Everything was putting him on edge lately; ever since he'd failed to meet the SOLDIER requirements, he'd spent nearly every day in a state of nervousness and depression. Cloud really didn't want to do anything to jeopardize his position as a grunt, because he didn't want to be sent home as a failure. Sure, failing to make it into the SOLDIER program was one thing, but failing to hold onto the lowest position Shinra offered was the most humiliating failure he could think of.

It's not like Zack had the power to fire him, but Zack had caught him acting strange a couple of times already, and he didn't really want his not-so-exemplary behavior getting back to the higher ups. Zack seemed like the type who could keep a secret, but since Cloud hadn't been brave enough to ask Zack to keep the incidents a secret, he ended up worrying about what might accidentally come out of Zack's mouth instead. Zack seemed to have confidence in him, and was always full of encouragement, despite Cloud's usual lack of tangible progress.

"What? There's a what, _where_?"

Cloud watched Zack, curiously wondering what the other voice on the phone was saying. He hated to ask, because he knew it made him seem too needy, but he hoped Zack would fill him in so that he could feel like he was part of something other than his own mundane existence.

"Well, I guess we'll take care of it, then," Zack said. "Although, it's not really my specialty and today is my day off."

Cloud heard the playful tone in Zack's voice. He knew that it didn't matter if today was Zack's day off or not: Zack would help anyone who asked, if it was in his power. He often tried to help people even if he had no idea how. Cloud figured that was probably why the person on the phone had called Zack to begin with; whoever it was, knew he wouldn't say no.

Zack hung up the phone and Cloud tried to remain calm. He waited silently, biting his tongue, not wanting to be nosy and ask too many questions.

"You busy tonight, Cloud?"

"No," Cloud said. "Well, I don't think so."

"Awesome," Zack said. "I just got the weirdest call. You're not gonna believe this: Kunsel said that there's a pet cactuar running around loose in the Shinra building on floor 32. They want me to see if I can catch it."

"Why not just send in an exterminator?"

"Well, it's a pet. I think it's Lazard's, but they wouldn't tell me. I'm sure that information is classified because it's too embarrassing, or something." Zack smiled. "I mean, who keeps a cactuar as a pet in the Shinra building? Anyway, they thought I might be able to honor Lazar—er, the _owner's_ wish to catch it alive."

Cloud nodded. It was no wonder they had contacted Zack. Knowing the little monster was a pet that meant something to someone, Zack would be certain to be as careful as he could with it.

"This is definitely one of the weirdest missions I've ever accepted," he said, standing up straight and letting out a gigantic yawn. "So, you in?"

"Su—ure," Cloud said. "If you think I can handle it."

Zack slapped Cloud's shoulder gently. "Heck, yeah! It'll be fun, don't you think?"

Cloud forced a smile and then looked away from Zack, as he felt the pressure lift from his shoulder. He fervently hoped that Zack wasn't patronizing him. He snuck a look to see what Zack was doing, and found the new SOLDIER recruit busily digging through a bookshelf, pulling out each book, spine by spine, reading the titles.

"What are you looking for?"

"I could swear I saw a manual," Zack said. "Something on cactuars up here."

The lounge was very neat looking, but not very organized. High quality metal shelves lined the room, embedded in the wall. Each shelf was nearly full with books, magazines, binders, and pamphlets, but none were in any kind of order as far as Cloud could tell. Cloud walked over to the closest bookshelf and began reading the titles, looking for anything that had to do with cactuars.

"Seriously, if we have books on, '_Understanding Bad Breath, 101 Ways to Outsmart a Malboro'_, then we ought to have something useful on cactuars."

Cloud smiled and chuckled quietly. Zack had a point, although he doubted the usefulness of a book with that sort of title.

"Is that for real?"

"I think so," Zack said.

After careful inspection of countless different pamphlets and magazines, Cloud's eyes widened when he saw it. The binder was a faded dark green color, and it had a dried coffee stain and what looked like to be cigarette ashes on the cover. Someone had doodled a couple cactuar sketches on the cover in pencil, which were both smeared and a little faded.

"Hey, I found something," Cloud said.

Zack walked over to him and took the binder from his hands. "Oh, this looks like it, '_The Proper Way to Handle a Cactuar'_ by E.R. Tseng."

"Tseng?" Cloud said, his stunned disbelief apparent in his voice.

"Nah, it can't be," Zack said, then shrugged. "Funny, though. I'll have to ask him about that later."

Zack gestured for Cloud to follow him and both sat down on a small couch. Zack propped the binder up on his lap and then opened the cover.

"Dang!" Zack said, quickly flipping through the pages.

"What is it?"

"Look, it's empty."

Several pages were ripped out, and the remaining pages inside were blank, save for a couple more cactuar doodles. The implication wasn't lost on Cloud. There they sat, looking at a handmade binder that was likely a one-of-a-kind item. Their chances of finding another copy or any information related to the subject were slim, if not impossible. All of the Shinra computer data on monsters was only related to how to harm them in some way, not handle them with care. Cloud looked at Zack expectantly, at a loss for what they were going to do.

"What are we going to do?"

"Well," Zack said, closing the binder and winking at Cloud. "We hope it's a _small _one. You still in?"

"You bet," Cloud said, unable to keep the smile off his lips.


End file.
